Battle for Azeroth Developer Interviews with Perculia and Panser at BlizzCon 2017

Wowhead's Site Director Perculia interviewed two Blizzard developers earlier today about the newest World of Warcraft expansion, Battle for Azeroth! With questions from Wowhead and the site's users, we got tons of info. Check our her invterview with Patrick Dawson, Technical Director for World of Warcraft, and Chris Robinson, Art Director for World of Warcraft. Additionally, Wowhead's video director Panser interviewed two Blizzard developers earlier today as well! Check our her interview with Alex Afrasiabi, Creative Director for World of Warcraft, and Chris Robinson, Art Director for World of Warcraft. We've got both videos and summaries right here!\r\rWatching the convention from home? Check out Wowhead's Discord to discuss BlizzCon and get the News Webhook for all BlizzCon 2017 news alerts!\r\rBlizzCon 2017 Coverage\r\rThis Article is part of our BlizzCon 2017 Coverage. \rIf you are interested in knowing more about Battle for Azeroth Interviews, check one of the articles below\r\r Interview Reveals the Future of Titanforging and Legendaries\r Island Expeditions Interview\r Battle for Azeroth Interview Roundup\r\r\rYou can also see our full coverage in our Coverage Recap\r\r\rPerculia's interview with Patrick Dawson and Chris Robinson\r\r\rQ: How did you choose which Allied Races to launch with and are there more on the way?\rA: Came out of tying up Legion stories, those characters felt appropriate to bring forth now.\r\rQ: Can you tell us more about customization\/emotes\/dances for Allied races?\rA: No new dances, etc right now but they have a rich cultural story.\r\rQ: How detailed are those Heritage Armor sets?\rA: We wanted them to stand apart, for sure.\r\rQ: Will Allied races be getting different starting mounts?\rA: We're not sure yet! The idea right now is the mounts will be similar.\r\rQ: What's the process for transitioning an NPC to a playable character?\rA: Animations for NPCs are very limited, that's the biggest change. Character models are quite memory intensive, so updating things to handle all these new models was important.\r\rQ: What were some of the challenges and how long has Allied Race idea been in development?\rA: Every time we make a new race, someone in the room says "That should be a player character!" We've had these ideas for a long time.\r\rQ: Will we see a visual update for worgen\/goblin this expansion?\rA: Not currently planned for this expansion. .\r\rQ: New spell\/combat animation revamp?\rA: We now consider this an ongoing project. We patch frequently enough that this can always be changing.\/\r\rQ: Are there any upcoming performance changes?\rA: Concerted effort in 7.3.5 to reduce memory costs on some things.\r\rQ: Challenges of zone scaling tech?\rA: Nothing was designed with that in mind, obviously. Challenge was making things not too difficult or not too easy - hence the level bands idea.\r\rQ: What's the scaling combat supposed to be like?\rA: Not just boosting everything, it's a holistic approach.\r\rQ: How are the islands going to work with the randomness aspect?\rA: Not totally random, it does pick from a set of things. We're excited about the advanced AI. They are less scripted and formulaic - was like solving a puzzle. AI that acts like a player was challenging but exciting. Some act like players, some are a little more zany!\r\rQ: What are the artistic challenges for the random islands?\rA: We do need to make it clear what the goal is so the visuals are slightly less random, but we took a long time to figure out how we wanted to set that up.\r\rQ: What are your favourite zones in the new continents?\rA: Chris: We wanted each continent to feel very cohesive so less of a hard edge between zones, more organic. Having said all that, the city itself in Kul Tiras is amazing and stunning! Patrick: I agree!\r\rQ: Will there be flying?\rA: We haven't decided yet.\r\rQ: What was the breakthrough that finally allowed classic servers?\rA: It's true, quite a difficult problem, but we're excited to work on it. It's still really early in the process so we can't answer too many questions about it yet.\r\r\rPanser's interview with Alex Afrasiabi and Chris Robinson\r\r\rQ: What's the scoop with having NPC bosses when we're fighting each other?\rA: There's always gotta be a threat, we'll explain it in game with a slow burn.\r\rQ: Now that the continents are split - how are things like Undercity in Alliance territories going to work?\rA: Chronology is tied to leveling, generally - so we don't want to take away from the old fiction but at max level you can then be bummed about bad things happening to Undercity (for example)\r\rQ: Are some of these changes - like Teldrassil burning - permanent?\rA: Not all, but definitely some are. \r\rQ: So the world will be dynamic?\rA: Yeah! \r\rQ: What was it like from an art perspective to go back and revamp old zones?\rA: We like updating things that have real tangible meaning to players to today's game and function of places, even.\r\rQ: What's the scoop on flying?\rA: We like the cadence of earning it over time, but we can always adjust things from what we've learned before.\r\rQ: Are followers\/missions coming with us?\rA: Similar systems but not those. No plans for followers.\r\rQ: What about world quests?\rA: Yep - we like that system. Feels natural and flows. We like that there's things out in the world. This time around with 2 continents World Quests will be sending you to places that are not at all familiar - so WQs are even better.\r\rQ: What's going on with "Horde"\/"Alliance" zones and world PvP?\rA: That's now all opt in, opt out. Tentatively, since it's now opt in, we can go crazy with world pvp - so eveyrone who's opted in can go onto their own server shard. So if i'm Horde and I go to Kul Tiras, i'm "an outlaw" and the longer I'm there, the more dangerous I am and that could do something like ping the map and alert Alliance to your presence (Reminder, this is tentative.)\r\rQ: What were the inspirations for the new BG and Arenas?\rA: We also want to introduce some PvP senses against the advanced AI on the Islands - maybe people will enjoy PvP after they get a taste. The inspirations for the PvP instances were looking at the world and thinking about where the conflict would coalesce.\r\rQ: Plans for Brawl expansion?\rA: Brawls will continue, we're not sure how much they are expanded.\r\rQ: How is scaling going to effect soloing old content?\rA: It's banded so zones have caps so super lower level stuff will still be super lower level to a certain extent if you're max level. One expansion back might still be rough.\r\rQ: What was the deciding factor on classic servers?\rA: We're not the right people to ask but we're super excited! It's happening!\r\rQ: Some stuff isn't in the game any more, will that stuff be obtainable on classic servers? Will it then be account wide?\rA: We don't know, to be determined, we're not sure. It's super early at this point.\r\rQ: Will there be classic servers for other expansions?\rA: Not sure, TDB!\r\rWe're mostly super excited about Allied Races! This expansion feels very new and immersive.

Commentaires

Commentaire de Alcest

on 2017-11-03T23:38:58-05:00

No questions about Legendaries? Disappointing.

Commentaire de Bashcutter

on 2017-11-03T23:40:42-05:00

Can't believe I get to skip my most hated zones!Now I get to level like 5 characters and immerse in zones to complete their story lineYou can level all those characters in different zones, and have totally different experiences.I'm hyped AF

Commentaire de offspinner

on 2017-11-03T23:45:13-05:00

Q: How is scaling going to effect soloing old content?\rA: It's banded so zones have caps so super lower level stuff will still be super lower level to a certain extent if you're max level. One expansion back might still be rough.\r\rCome on. I want old content to be super trivial. \r\rIt should not, under any circumstances, be 'rough'.

Commentaire de darkjackal

on 2017-11-03T23:46:55-05:00

So the plan for flying is the same as the previous 2 expansions...\r this will be fun, you can enjoy the scenery.

Commentaire de Menelvagor

on 2017-11-03T23:47:30-05:00

Not sure how I feel bout the continents being split yet

Commentaire de etheldald

on 2017-11-03T23:49:14-05:00

no more character customization? i was expeting some changes to that,,hm o well, next xpac i guess.

Commentaire de jjanchan

on 2017-11-03T23:49:42-05:00

Great questions, guys! There's still a million floating around in my head, which will make the future updates that flesh out these features that much more exciting to read.

Commentaire de faldarkinn

on 2017-11-03T23:53:15-05:00

World PvP - Bounty idea. Lifted that straaaaaight from The Division game. I like it. Do it.

Commentaire de Truweil

on 2017-11-03T23:53:22-05:00

Glad you asked the customization question, buy also wish you would of asked if they were planning new customization options for existing races.

Commentaire de Spiceice

on 2017-11-04T00:02:31-05:00

Awesome questions!

Commentaire de Evrael

on 2017-11-04T00:04:57-05:00

Q: Will there be flying?\rA: We haven't decided yet.\r\rThe safe answer huh

Commentaire de Aztecia

on 2017-11-04T00:06:19-05:00

Wow! I feel like they told us more in this than they did during the actual BlizzCon announcements :D

Commentaire de dclee85

on 2017-11-04T00:06:22-05:00

Curious what the Heritage Sets will look like for all the allied races. Sounds like a cool idea.

Commentaire de Mewlyz

on 2017-11-04T00:07:08-05:00

I am so happy they asked my question about the worgens and gobs! The answer is a bit disappointing but it's good to know for sure that it's not going to happen I guess!

Commentaire de Truweil

on 2017-11-04T00:08:55-05:00

Curious what the Heritage Sets will look like for all the allied races. Sounds like a cool idea.\r\rThey already showed them, its what they are wearing in the videos showing them.

Commentaire de shnook13

on 2017-11-04T00:10:03-05:00

I cant wait to play as a zandalari troll or any of the new races for that matter

Commentaire de AcantiTheGreat

on 2017-11-04T00:10:19-05:00

Excited to see how this advanced AI thing plays out.

Commentaire de TheTacomaster

on 2017-11-04T00:10:33-05:00

The Dark Iron dwarves would make me consider rolling Alliance, if the Zandalari weren't in the picture.

Commentaire de Magma92

on 2017-11-04T00:10:44-05:00

I wish there was more info on Classic but RIP. My guess it its gonna be around a year or two before we see it come to live. Would wish they added evolving servers with classic. Have it automatically upgrade the server to the next patch\/xpac during x amount of time. Then simultaneously release a new version of classic.\rExample\rClassic launches\r|\rClassic gets upgraded to BC->A fresh Classic launches\r | \rBC gets upgraded to Wrath->Classic gets upgraded to BC->A fresh Classic launches\r\rAnd this would just repeat then after its about to upgrade to newest content toons from that realm get xfer to the live version completely naked no gear\/items\/mounts\/ect from them xfer over. This would ensure that your time on those character isn't wasted ect while also allowing people to slowly transition if that want that feeling again.